Too Many Men

Too Many Men

Judges 7:1-23

            When I was a young boy I loved to hear my father tell Bible stories.  When I was older, and counseling at church camps, I told the boys in my cabin the same stories during nightly devotions.  I hope the stories were as memorable for them as my father made them for me. 

One of my favorites was the story of Gideon.  You can find him in chapters 6-8 in the Book of Judges. 

Once again the people of Israel had turned their backs on God.  The writer of Judges tells us they did evil in God’s sight.  Their punishment was the Midianites. After the Israelite farmers had done all the hard work, the Midianites swept down at harvest time and stole the crops.  Since Israel had no standing army, they were sitting ducks.

            God came to Gideon in the person of an angel, and told him he had been chosen to lead Israel against her oppressors.  Gideon asked for proof.  After all, this was no small task, leading a disorganized bunch of farmers against a trained army so large it couldn’t be numbered.  God supplied the proof to Gideon’s satisfaction, and Gideon sent out a call for fighters.

            We’re told 32,000 showed up at the spring of Harod.  We can be sure they didn’t look much like soldiers.  Gideon must have been disappointed at the ragtag bunch.  Then God surprised him by saying, “Gideon, you have too many men!”

            There was a method to God’s madness.  God wanted to be sure Israel understood that it was God who had saved them from their enemies and not themselves.  It was not a question of strength, but of whose strength would win the battle.  If Israel had strength of force—even untrained force, the people might continue to rely on themselves instead of turning back to God.

            Gideon gathered his troops and announced, “If any of you are afraid to fight, or if obligations at home would distract you from concentrating on the battle, feel free to leave.”  Twenty-two thousand men left, which meant Gideon had ten thousand untrained troops to fight against the disciplined Midianite army.  God said again, “Gideon, you have too many men.”

            With (I’m sure) a sigh, Gideon led the men to the spring and told them to take a drink.  Most knelt on both knees and used both hands, discarding their weapons so they could get more water.  A significant few, on one knee, scooped up a little water in one hand while they kept their weapons at the ready.  God said, “Send the others home.  This is your fighting force.”  Gideon looked around.  He was left with only 300 men—but they were ready to fight.

            That night, Gideon divided his troops into groups of 100, and placed them around three sides of the Midianite camp.  Each fighter had a trumpet and a torch covered with a jar.  At Gideon’s command, everyone blew their trumpets, smashed the jars, exposing the torches, and cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”

            You can imagine what happened.  The camp was in an uproar, with everyone running around half asleep, and fighting with anyone they encountered.  Gideon’s men waited until the enemy had sufficiently decimated itself to make the mop-up operation easy.  The Bible tells how Gideon’s force, now joined by other Israelites, pursued the Midianites and completed the rout of the once unbeatable army.

            Just so does God lead us in battle against our enemies.  These enemies will most often be spiritual rather than physical, but they are the ones that threaten our souls.  We haven’t the strength to conquer these foes, but God does.  If we listen to God, and use the tools God provides, we are assured of victory.  With God’s help we can all be Gideons.